Boarders

Well, my three overnight boarders were fairly well behaved on my porch last night.  Except for Little Blackie – he escaped from the carrier I THOUGHT I had him securely tucked away in, but after giving them their meals before bedtime, I must not have latched it completely.  Thank God the windows were not left open too wide, nor the door propped open like it usually is for the strays in the neighborhood that I feed.

I turned on the light when I got up at 4 am., and peeked out and saw him sitting on the ledge.  Or I should say HER.  I TNR’d two females and a male.   The female from Baldwin was in early stage of pregnancy, which would have been her second pregnancy.  I thank God for this intervention.  We would have had more kittens born outdoors, and from my eyes, I’ve seen enough of that already.

Back to Little Blackie, she allowed me to pick her up and carefully place her back in the carrier I had to clean out – after I cleaned her up a bit, as she  was quite a mess – she didn’t have a litter box, and probably never used one, so the chair became one, and so did the inside of her carrier.  It was particularly heartbreaking to have to release her this morning, for she allowed me to hold her in my arms, such a dainty little lady.  She deserves a good home.  I hope someone out there reading this will consider her.  She has to fight off at least five other cats to get food when I arrive there at that spot in the morning.  Speaking of, I spoke to a group of guys on the porch of the house next door – nice guy – told me he works at Petsmart and what I was doing was so good – so I jumped on the opportunity to ask if he would allow me to shelter the cats on his property, and he told me he wouldn’t have a problem, would have to ask the landlord.  I told him it looked like I was having trouble with the people on the corner that had allowed me to feed on their property a few months ago, after being booted off the vacant lot just down a way from the corner.  Of course, these are the people I brought flowers, plants and gift certificates to as a way of thanking them.  

I think about all that I do for these animals.  I had a guy come to my house last night wanting me to sign a petition – it was some environmental project – he was a young guy, fresh out of college going into grad school – a little nervous about what he was doing – and as is usually the case, he was asking for a small donation for their cause.  I pointed to the three carriers covered up with towels on my porch and told him what I was doing, and how I was my own cause, and could use donations for feeding over 50 cats a day, not to mention getting them spayed and neutered.  I told him about the kitty that had been pregnant, and he asked how many one cat can reproduce.  I didn’t have the numbers for him, but I told him MANY.  So I gave him my card and told him to spread the word, because I needed the help!  J  How’s that for turning the tables?

I am off tomorrow, so I wish you a safe and happy holiday weekend!

"I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday."